As the video from Manipur showing two women being paraded naked sparks anger and fury across the nation, the victims, one in her 20s and another in her 40s, have opened up about their traumatic experience at the hands of the Meitei mob.
While the older woman, belonging to the Kuki tribe, is currently in a relief camp at Churachandpur, the younger one has moved to a Southern district with her family, reported The Print.
The older woman told The Print that the incident happened on May 4, the day after the ethnic clashes broke out. She recalled how her village was attacked on May 3. Though she managed to send her four children to a nearby Naga settlement, she and her husband were among the last to flee their village in Kangpokpi district.
They managed to hide in a nearby forest with eight others. But, the mob, which had burnt Kuki villages on the hills, found them. "All our belongings were burnt; the mob kept reassuring us that they won’t harm us," said the woman.
The mob then divided the Kuki villagers into two groups. She was taken towards the main road along with the younger woman. The younger one also had her brother and father with her.
However, they managed to get into a police jeep parked nearby. The Thoubal police were taking them to the station when they encountered a mob. They were taken from police custody by the mob, just two kilometres away from the station. "Two policemen and a driver were in the jeep. But they did not help us. Instead, they abandoned the jeep, giving a free hand to the mob," she told The Print.
Her account was confirmed by the younger woman in her complaint filed before the police on May 18. "The police were there with the mob which was attacking our village. The police picked us up from near home and took us a little away from the village and left us on the road with the mob. We were given to them by police," she told The Indian Express.
Her father and brother were killed by the mob who threw their bodies inside a drain.
But, as the mob grew, things took a turn for the worse. Men began groping them before forcing them to strip. They were dragged to a paddy field on the side of the road where they were brutally raped. "I kept begging them to leave me. I told them I am a mother," she added. But, the men showed no mercy.
The women said they had no clue about the video since there was no internet in Manipur.
According to the younger woman, there were "too many" men in the mob and she did recognise a few, including a friend of her brother’s. There was also reportedly another woman in her 50s, who was also allegedly stripped.
The older woman said the ordeal lasted two hours after which the mob took them back to the spot where their clothes lay next to the police jeep.
"The younger woman broke down after seeing her father and brother dead. Some men then came to us and told us to leave or otherwise, we would also be killed," she said.
